Reflecting on various, sometimes dark, future scenarios through technology. That was the assignment for students of the master course ​​Interactive Technology Design (ITD) at the TU Delft faculty of Industrial Design Engineering. On Wednesday afternoon, 5 July, the results will be shown during the Interactive Technology Design (ITD) exhibition at the faculty.

"The purpose of this course is to use design and technology to let people think about what we may expect in the future," says Aadjan van der Helm, lecturer at the faculty of IDE at TU Delft. "What the TV series Black Mirror tries to do through images and stories, we do with technology."

Future scenarios

For instance, think of a future in which data about everyone's health is being monitored. Aan algorithm can then determine which products you are allowed to buy in the supermarket and which ones you cannot. Or what about a future in which everyone is linked to a sustainable ideology, through an implanted 'smart organ'; the optimal way to save the planet, according to the government. As long as citizens make good, sustainable choices, that organ continues to artificially prolong their lives.

These are just two examples of the 20 master student projects that can be seen during the exhibition on 5 July. The students chose from seven topics and wrote a future scenario for this topic. The scenarios are speculative, but they are based on the extrapolation of current social and technological developments. The interactive experiences they designed, make it possible to experience these scenarios.

Separate spaces

During the exhibition, the objects will be exhibited in separate spaces as much as possible. "Each object needs a different atmosphere to create the right future experience," says Van der Helm. "So the surroundings are sometimes cheerful, sometimes dark, sometimes calm and sometimes quite noisy. That, along with video footage and of course the objects themselves, contribute to a special experience that people hopefully think about their future."

The ITD exhibition will take place on Wednesday 5 July from 14:00 to 18:00 in studios 1-11 on the first floor of the faculty of Industrial Design Engineering at the TU Delft.